Into the Woods
by eponnia
Summary: Modern AU. The Pevensies and the Scrubbs take a family camping trip. Lucy tries to smuggle her cat to the cabin, Susan's boyfriend Caspian visits, Peter teaches Eustace to drive, and Edmund is... Edmund. Oh, and it rains. [Set in "The Rain in Spain" universe before "Blessing" and the upcoming "Everlasting", but not explicitly Suspian]
1. Chapter 1 (Friday: The Arrival)

Chapter 1 (Friday: The Arrival)

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yet another installment in my modern AU Narnia universe, which is expanding far beyond what I originally planned.**

**You technically don't have to read **_**The Rain in Spain**_** to understand **_**Into the Woods**_**, or the other fic in the series, **_**Blessing**_** (set one year after this and concluding the series). They would give you a perhaps not entirely crucial but hopefully interesting look into the universe I have created. **

**About this story – ages have been altered. It is mentioned in the chapters, but I'll explain just to be clear. Peter, Caspian, and Susan are in their twenties, Edmund is nineteen, Eustace sixteen, and Lucy fourteen. I advise you to pay attention to chapter titles, as they will give you a picture of the timeline in this fic. **

**This is based mainly on a blend of three films, but mainly the second two, which you most likely guessed from the mention of Suspian in the summary, as only the Disney films included the pairing.**

**Speaking of Suspian, as this is a sequel to **_**The Rain in Spain**_**, those who have read the original may wonder where Caspian and Susan are now in their relationship. As the summary suggests, they are dating steadily, and he has moved from Madrid to London permanently. **

**I hope you enjoy **_**Into the Woods**_** as much as I did writing it.**

* * *

"I absolutely forbid it."

"He can stay in the cabin," Lucy pleaded.

"What if he gets out?" her mother countered. "What if you lose him?"

"What if some hunter shoots him?" Edmund offered as he passed his mother and youngest sister on the front step, carrying a duffle bag to the car parked in the driveway.

"Edmund!" Helen said sharply, giving her son a stern look.

"Sorry," he said as Lucy clutched the car carrier, the furry orange creature inside mewling. "I highly doubt anyone will shoot your cat."

"Drop it, Ed," Peter said as he came out of the house. "Susan's still packing," he informed his mother as he joined his brother at the trunk of the car, placing his suitcase amidst the others piled inside it.

"My final answer is no, Lucy," Helen said. "You need to finish packing."

"All of my things are in car, Mum," the fourteen-year-old said sullenly as she turned to go back into the house, cat carrier in hand.

"Thank you, dear," Helen said. "Could you help Susan? Remind her that we are staying for three days, not a month."

"Yes, Mum."

* * *

"Lucy, I need your opinion," Susan said the moment her younger sister entered what had been their shared room. The elder had moved out when she went to Oxford University, buying an apartment the summer after her second year, but had come home the Thursday evening before to drive with her family to the cabin for the weekend.

Though the Pevensies lived not too far from the Scrubbs, the two families had not seen each other in quite some time. Helen Pevensie decided to rectify that problem, and rented a cabin in the middle of nowhere for three days. Her children – especially Edmund – were none too pleased to be forced into the company of their cousin Eustace, but decided (to try, in Edmund's case) to make the best of it.

The room that Lucy and Susan stood in was covered in neatly laid out clothes. The fourteen-year-old looked at her twenty-three-year-old sister, asking, "Um, yes? What do you need my opinion on? If you should pack your entire closet?"

"Just what I should take," Susan corrected.

"You'd be a better judge of that," Lucy replied. "You were the fashion journalist, not me."

"Another opinion wouldn't hurt."

"We're going camping. Heels probably won't work."

"I know, but…" Susan bit her lip. "Caspian texted me and said he might visit."

"Susan, you could wear the ugliest clothes in the world and still look beautiful. Mum wants to leave."

Susan sighed but began folding clothes, placing them neatly in her open suitcase laying on the floor nearby.

* * *

As Susan was putting her suitcase in the car, Lucy went to the laundry room. Opening the door, she saw her cat sitting by the food and water bowls in the corner, a litter box nearby. Lucy checked the bowls before kneeling down before the orange feline, placing a backpack on the floor and unzipping it. She scratched the tom behind an ear before scooping him into her arms. "Let's try one more thing, Ariel," Lucy said, holding the cat in one arm and opening the backpack further with her free hand.

She froze as she heard the laundry room door open behind her.

"It's not going to work, Lu."

With a sigh, she dropped a kiss on the mewing cat's head before setting him down the floor. Picking up the backpack, she faced Peter. "I had all of his things packed, too," she told her eldest brother.

"He'll be fine," Peter assured her. "Everyone else is waiting in the car."

As they walked together through the house, she left the backpack at her room before going out the front door and down the steps as Peter locked the house behind them. Lucy crawled into the very back of the car, taking the farthest seat as Susan and Edmund sat in the middle, Peter in the passenger seat beside Helen. Lucy watched the house get smaller and smaller as they drove away, disappearing altogether as the car turned down another street.

* * *

Lucy's spirits rose during the three hour drive, though the same could not be said for the rest of her family. Peter never complained, but Edmund did, and even Susan made one or two comments. Helen was too busy focusing on directions to worry about anything else, even with Peter helping her.

They finally arrived at the cabin. The size of a medium-sized house or a bit smaller, the structure had a wrap-around porch and one levels. The cabin was isolated and surrounded by trees with only a gravel road leading to it, but Lucy found it charming. She even heard Susan mention to Edmund, only when their mother was out of earshot, that the cabin was nicer than she had expected.

The Scrubbs were nowhere in sight as the Pevensies began unloading. But just as they were finishing bringing their belongings into the cabin, they heard a car coming up the gravel path and looked out windows to see their relatives.

Uncle Harold and Aunt Alberta got out of their car first, greeting their sister-in-law and sister, respectively, as Eustace approached his cousins.

"Hello," he said with a scowl.

"Lovely day, isn't it?" Lucy offered with a smile.

"If you like this sort of thing," Eustace said loftily. In comparison to their cousin, Susan looked positively thrilled to be camping.

"How is school?" Peter asked.

"You sound exactly like a grown-up," Eustace told the twenty-three-year-old.

"He actually is an adult," Edmund cut in sharply before Peter could reply. "So and I, and Su is, too. So stop trying to act all high-and-mighty, you little–"

"Edmund!" Susan scolded.

"We are all going to be together for the weekend," Peter said, much more calmly than Lucy could have managed. "Let's work on making the best of it. Need help unloading?" he asked even as he went to the Scrubbs' unlocked car, not waiting for an answer.

"I– wait–" Lucy nearly found Eustace's confusion comical, but held back a laugh.

"You don't want our help?" Edmund said, feigning dropping a suitcase as he pulled it out the trunk.

"Wait! Don't drop anything!" Eustace said desperately, running forward to take the suitcase from a smirking Edmund. "Fine. You can help."

As he hurried into the cabin, Edmund muttered, "As if we really want to help him, the little sh–"

"_Edmund_!" Susan said sharply.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a shorter chapter than I would usually write, but I actually wrote this entire fic by hand as I did not have access to a computer when inspiration struck. I forgot to mention that **_**Into the Woods**_** will only six chapters long.**


	2. Chapter 2 (Friday: The Hike)

Chapter 2 (Friday: The Hike)

"I really don't see the appeal of hiking," Lucy heard Eustace mutter. Peter and Susan ignored him, but Edmund looked over his shoulder to shoot a glare at his cousin, who didn't notice.

Helen, Alberta and Harold had stayed behind to make dinner while their children to a walk to the lake nearby. Edmund had wanted to leave Eustace at the cabin, but Helen had overheard their conversation about hiking and proclaimed it a wonderful idea.

Eustace now trailed behind his cousins, even at their deliberately mild pace as not to tire the sixteen-year-old too quickly, who was a self-proclaimed "modern thinker" and preferred to stay inside. That is to say, he did not appreciate nature, and complained every chance he could find.

"You drive, right, Eustace?" Peter said over his shoulder to fill the lull in the conversation.

"Ah, no," their cousin said, and Lucy saw rare embarrassment color his cheeks. "I have many responsibilities and–"

"He just doesn't want to learn," Edmund said under his breath.

"–and am very busy at the moment," Eustace finished.

"If you would like," Peter began, "I could teach you the basics."

"That won't be necessary, I'm sure," Eustace said quickly.

"Would you rather your dad yell in your ear or have your boring old cousin, as you call him?" Edmund quipped, glancing at Peter before looking at Eustace.

"Anyone but you," the sixteen-year-old said curtly to his cousin.

"Feeling's mutual," Edmund replied with a glare.

"The lake is just a little ways ahead," Peter said in a firm tone. "Let's go."

The group walked in silence, Eustace falling even farther behind. Lucy gasped in delight as they came to the crest of a small incline and saw the lake before them.

The water reflected the gray clouds and blue patches of the sky, surrounded by a pebble beach and a thick forest. Lucy had hoped for sand, but the water looked refreshing and the fourteen-year-old found herself running toward sit with her siblings, not noticing that Eustace stayed in the tree line.

She stopped to pull off her hiking boots and socks before stepping gingerly into the freezing cold water. Edmund charged straight in, wading until the water reached his calves just below his rolled-up jeans. As Lucy went deeper into the water, she felt strong arms pick her up, and Peter carried further into the lake as she laughed.

"Let me go!" she mock begged with a grin.

"If you insist." Keeping an arm under her shoulders, he suddenly let go of her legs, and she half-fell into the water, shrieking with laughter.

"Wait! I take it back!"

Her brother supported her fully with a grin. "You should have been clearer–" Peter was cut off as Edmund splashed them both, his jeans almost completely soaked.

"We still have to hike back," Susan called from her seat on a log resting near the trail on the beach. "Don't get too wet!"

"Cue Eustace complaining," Edmund said with a grin.

"Ed." But Peter's admonishment was good-natured.

"Where is Eustace?" Lucy asked.

The three siblings turned back to the shore, but their cousin was nowhere in sight. "Have you seen Eustace?" Peter called to Susan, but she only shook her head, brushing off her jeans as she stood, her siblings wading back to the pebble beach.

"When was the last anyone saw him?" Peter asked, setting Lucy down next to the hiking boots she had abandoned.

"When we first got to the lake," Susan replied. "I haven't seen him since."

"He was behind us on the trail," Lucy said.

"Do you think he left?" her sister asked.

"He's too afraid of nature to go back on his own."

"Ed, be nice," Susan sighed.

"He' is right, though," Peter allowed. "I don't know if he would leave without us."

"Maybe he went off a little ways to pee," Edmund offered.

"Eustace would rather die than go to the bathroom in the woods."

"Good point."

"Enough," Susan cut in. "I really didn't want that mental image."

While her siblings were conversing, Lucy went to the start of the trail, scanning the trees, but there was no sign of her cousin.

"Lucy, don't you wander off," Susan called.

"I'm not," the fourteen-year-old said, turning back to face her siblings. "I'm not a child."

Edmund started to say something but Peter elbowed him.

"What about instead of talking, we start looking?" Lucy asked. Without waiting for a reply, she turned back to face the woods again. "Eustace!"

The four siblings began to make their way down the path, calling their cousin's name, but received no answer.

"We're getting nowhere like this," Peter said after a while. "Susan, Edmund, you go back to the beach. Lucy and I will go further down the trail. In five minutes, everyone meet back at the trail head and we'll go back to the cabin."

As their siblings left, Lucy asked her brother, "Do you think he's hiding or something?"

"Honestly?" Peter replied. "I wouldn't put it past him."

When the five minutes with only one false alarm to show for it, her brother said, "Let's head back, Lu." As he turned away, Lucy heard a twig snap further down the path. She stopped, only to make her way further down the path away from Peter.

"Lu?"

"I heard something." Lucy rounded a corner past a large oak tree and cried out with a smile.

"Caspian!"

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: This chapter was really short, I know, but the next will be longer.**


	3. Chapter 3 (Friday: The Search)

Chapter 3 (Friday: The Search)

Caspian's face broke into a grin when he was her. "Lucy!"

As she ran forward and threw her arms around him, she heard Peter. "Caspian? What are you doing out here?"

"I thought to surprise Susan," their sister's boyfriend replied as Lucy stepped away from him. Peter stepped forward.

"I expected you to come later tonight," he said, clapping a hand on Caspian's shoulder in greeting.

"Well, he's here, and he can help us," Lucy said matter-of-factly.

"Help with…?"

"We lost our cousin."

Caspian's eyebrows raised at Lucy's reply, and he looked to Peter.

"It's true," Peter explained as they began to walk together on the path. "He was with us when we got to the lake, and he just vanished."

"Do you think something happened to him?"

"We assumed he just go lost or left to go back to the cabin," Peter replied as they reached the trailhead, Susan's worried expression lighting up at the sight of her boyfriend.

"I thought you were coming later," she said as she stepped into his embrace. Susan pressed her lips lightly to Caspian's, but she pulled away at Edmund's cough.

"Now that you're here, you can help us look for our cousin," Susan said.

"You sister said almost the same thing, and I will do all I can. What should I be looking for?"

"Right, you've never met him. His name is Eustace Scrubb…"

"Sixteen, short blond hair a bit under average height–" Peter began.

"Annoying, full of himself, whiny…" Edmund added.

"–and talkative, yes," Peter said, glaring at the younger.

"We should head back to the cabin," Susan said to her brothers, "so the two of you can change."

"A little water never hurt anyone," Edmund replied, looking down at his still waterlogged jeans.

"I wasn't finished, Ed. It also looks like rain, so we'll have to bundle up." Susan took Caspian's hand in hers and headed down the trail to the cabin. "Peter, you're breaking the news to Aunt Alberta."

Peter said nothing, but a look of resignation settled on his features.

"She'll cry and tell us that we murdered her precious angel," Edmund said.

"This really isn't the time for jokes, Ed."

"For the record, as annoying as he is, I don't want anything to happen to him," the younger brother said.

True to Edmund's prediction, Aunt Alberta cried as hard as the rain that started up. She was convinced that her son had either been kidnapped, fallen down a hole somewhere and broken every bone in his body, or been eaten by a wild animal. Uncle Harold immediately directed Caspian, who hadn't been at the cabin even an hour, to join Peter and Edmund in a search to find Eustace. He told them he would go himself if not for a back injury that Edmund almost called out as an excuse, but Helen's near-murderous glare stopped him from saying anything more.

The rain fell in sheets, and they soon realized that they were caught in the middle of a storm. Harold lent Caspian his rain jacket, and he and Pevensie brothers prepared to brave the weather/ Lucy watched from the kitchen – her mother, aunt and uncle were waiting in the living room – with a good vantage point into the foyer hall.

"Be careful," Susan said, looking up at Caspian intently.

"You know I will."

"If you aren't back in an hour–"

"You'll call search and rescue," he finished. "I know the plan."

"I know." She sighed. "But–"

"Susan," he said in a low voice, reaching up to brush a strand of hair behind her ear. "I'll be back with your cousin before you know I was gone. Don't worry."

Lucy looked away to give them privacy as they kissed.

"_Now_ you can interrupt," she said to Edmund and Peter, who had just come into the kitchen, after she made sure her sister and her boyfriend had separated.

"Let's go, Caspian," Lucy heard Edmund say as he went into the foyer. "You can snog my sister after we find Eustace."

"Ed!" Susan exclaimed, shocked. Lucy swore her cheeks turned pink.

"I assure you, I was not–" Caspian began, but Edmund cut him off.

"I'm sure you snog all the time. I just don't want to see it. We've got a brat to find."

"Ed," Peter said in a warning tone.

"Fine, I apologize. Let's go," Edmund said, pulling up his hood and opening the door. A blast of wind and rain hit them, tugging at Susan's hair, and Caspian followed Edmund outside. Peter paused only to briefly hug Susan before joining the other two on the porch. As Susan shut the door behind them, Lucy approached her.

"Peter and Edmund wouldn't have gotten into the army and the police academy if they couldn't handle something like this," the fourteen-year-old said. "And Caspian's smart. They'll be fine."

"I know," Susan sighed. "But I can't help but worry."

* * *

Aunt Alberta's incessant crying got on even Lucy's nerves as the hour neared its completion. Susan rarely turned away from the window, even though there wasn't much to see for the storm, while Helen kept looking at the clock. Praying silently, Lucy suddenly wished she had her cat to distract her from worrying, though she had complete faith in her brothers and Caspian. Even Uncle Harold was starting to look nervous.

Susan broke a long moment of maddening silence by crying out.

"There they are!"

Everyone crowded to the window to see Peter, Edmund, Caspian and Eustace walking together to the cabin through the slick mud and driving rain.

Helen and Uncle Harold stayed with a near-fainting Aunt Alberta while Susan and Lucy all but flew to the front door. They pulled it open and moved opposite sides of the door as the four drenched figures trudged in.

"Is everyone alright?" Susan asked, receiving exhausted nods from her brothers and Caspian, but Eustace ignored her.

"I nearly died out there, no thanks to you," he said indignantly to his rescue party. It was clear being lost for two hours in a storm had not altered his personality for the better, Lucy noted.

"You're the one who got lost," Edmund snapped. "We found you and brought you back. The least you can say is thank you."

"I probably have pneumonia and hypothermia," Eustace continued, ignoring his cousin. "I'll freeze to death tonight."

"Eustace? Is that you? Are you alive?" Aunt Albert called desperately, coming into the foyer.

"Mum?" Anything else Eustace might have said was muffled as his mother pulled him into a tight embrace.

"Oh, my darling, I thought you were dead!" she cried. "Come, Eustace. Harold!" Aunt Alberta pulled her son out of the foyer, and the Scrubb family retreated upstairs into the cabin, leaving the Pevensies and Caspian without another word. Helen came into the foyer, a worried expression on her features.

"Are the three of you okay?"

"Soaked to the bone, but otherwise alright," Peter said, unzipping his rain jacket and peeling it away from the sweatshirt he wore underneath. "Caspian, on the other hand, had a rather nasty fall…"

"It wasn't that bad," Caspian explained to the Pevensie women quickly. "I'm just bruised," he assured a worried Susan, who appeared unsatisfied with his answer. "Really, it's nothing."

Susan didn't reply, but her stern look said everything.

Once the three had shed their coats and dried off somewhat, they joined Helen, Susan and Lucy in the living room; the Scrubbs had yet to make an appearance. Then Caspian started to explain the events of the past hour.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Friday (The Search) continues in the next chapter, going into Saturday (The Morning After) halfway through to the end of chapter four.**


	4. Chapter 4 (Saturday: The Morning After)

Chapter 4 (Saturday: The Morning After)

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: The chapter title says Saturday, but this chapter includes both late Friday evening (continuing from The Search) and up to Saturday morning (The Morning After).**

**Camberleigh Fauconbridge asked in a review why Susan didn't join the search party. Of course Susan is a strong, capable woman who could have gone with them, but in **_**The Rain in Spain**_** universe, she is already into "lipstick and nylons" (though Caspian keeps her grounded). That of course does not mean she becomes helpless the moment she applies makeup, but in my modern AU series, she is a bit more reserved. It's mentioned in chapter one of **_**Into the Woods**_** that she had been a fashion journalist. **

**Usually fashion journalists don't like to go out into the woods during a storm.**

* * *

"We looked for about half an hour," Caspian began. "We knew not to separate in the storm, and went to the main trail in hopes he had gone back to it. We started to go off the trail after a while when we didn't find him. We almost called off the search when I fell into – a small valley? _Perdonar _my English," he said, embarrassed.

"Ravine," Edmund offered.

"More of a gorge," Peter said. "But what happened next I find hard to believe, even for Eustace."

"I don't," Edmund muttered.

"I found that Eustace had fallen down there as well," Caspian continued. "He was unhurt, though frightened for many reasons. I wish we had met before tonight, as it would have hastened our return. He asked who I was, but didn't believe me when I told him I was in of his search party. He asked me for my badge, a question I did not know how to answer at the time–"

"He asked if you were an official search and rescue volunteer," Edmund said.

"I explained again who I was and how I was connected to all of you, but he refused to believe me. He then became convinced I was going to kidnap him or kill him, and refused to come with me."

Peter leaned forward. "While he and Eustace were talking, Edmund and I looked for ways to get down the gorge and back out again," he said. "We found an easier access point, and I went down. Ed stayed above us in case something happened and needed to get help. I convinced Eustace that he was perfectly safe coming with us, and we managed to get out of the gorge and come back."

"And the brat wasn't even grateful we saved his ass."

"Edmund!" Helen said sharply.

"Caspian could have broken his neck!" he went on, voice raising in volume with his mounting anger. "We could have gotten lost ourselves, or something could have happened. And all Eustace cared about was if _he_ was getting pneumonia!"

"I'm not saying that isn't true," Helen said, fixing her youngest son with a hard look. "But keep your voice down. They are only upstairs."

"He deserves for someone to let him know what they really think of him. The ungrateful, selfish–"

"Enough!" Helen interrupted. "Think what you want, but he is family. I don't want to hear another word against Eustace. It's been a long day for all of us, and I'm going to bed. Caspian," she said, turning to her eldest daughter's boyfriend, "I would advise you to stay here tonight. You shouldn't be driving in this weather."

"I was thinking the same, and I appreciate your concern."

"Lucy, don't stay up too late," Helen said over her shoulder as she left the living room and made her way down the hall to the bedrooms. "The rest of you, don't make too much noise."

"Well, it _is_ getting late," Peter said after a moment, "and we've had quite the evening. Caspian, I'd offer you space in the room Ed and I are sharing, but it's smaller than army barracks."

"I assume all the other rooms are taken, then," Caspian said.

"The Scrubbs have the one upstairs," Susan explained. "And Mum, Lucy and I have the last one. I don't believe there's anywhere else…"

"What about the couch?" Lucy asked.

"Brilliant, Lu," Peter said. "Granted, it's not very big–"

"But better than nothing," Caspian finished. "Thank you for letting me stay."

"We aren't about to send you out into the storm," Peter replied as he, Lucy, and Edmund stood and started to leave the living room. Lucy yawned and leaned against her older brother.

"And I'm sure Susan is happy you're staying the night," Edmund added, ducking as Susan threw a pillow at his head.

* * *

Lucy woke early the next morning and noticed the other side of the bed was empty.

As the fourteen-year-old lay in silence for a moment, she saw that Susan, who was supposed to have shared the bed with her while their mother took the other on the opposite side of the room, was absent. Even the blankets had not been touched.

Sitting up, Lucy saw no traces of her sister in the room – even her clothes from the night before, which normally would have been folded on top of her suitcase, were missing. Lucy got up, moving quietly as to let her mother sleep, and slipped into the hall.

There was no other sound in the cabin other than the sound of her socked feet padding into the living room to go to the kitchen. As she passed the couch, she was surprised to see Susan there, dark head resting on Caspian's chest with his arm around her shoulders, and both fast asleep. Lucy recognized they wore the same clothes from the night before.

She almost said something, but decided against it and went into the kitchen. As she poured cereal into a bowl, the noise loud in the quiet house, Lucy heard low mummers from the living room. A door in the hallway opened, and as the talking ceased, Lucy saw a yawning Edmund leaving the room he shared with Peter. He didn't even look his younger sister as he went into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.

Lucy looked back into the living room to see the top of Susan's head as the twenty-two-year-old looked around. The older sister caught sight of the younger in the kitchen and lifted her head above the couch.

"Lucy!" she whispered.

"Yes?"

"Did anyone… see us?"

"Just me. But Ed will definitely see you when he gets out of the bathroom."

"Don't tell him," Susan said in a low voice. "He'll never shut up about if he knows."

They heard the toilet flush in the bathroom, the faucet turning on a moment later. Susan scrambled off Caspian, earning a low "ow" from her boyfriend. She apologized as she darted around the couch, and bolted to the room her mother slept in. Susan had just opened the door when Edmund left the bathroom, and she slipped inside before he noticed her.

"Morning, Lu," Edmund said as he came into the living room. "Is Caspian awake?"

"I think so," Lucy answered truthfully, dropping her gaze to her cereal to hide her smile.

"You're smirking." She focused on chewing as her brother crossed the living room and came into the kitchen, stopping in front of the table. "Something's up, something good, I can tell. Spill. You never were good at lying, anyway."

"Good morning," Caspian said, coming into the kitchen. Lucy let out a sigh of relief as Edmund turned his attention to Susan's boyfriend.

"Morning." Edmund glanced quickly between Caspian and Lucy, eyes narrowing, but said nothing as he went to the fridge.

"Good morning!" Susan said with a smile as she came into the kitchen dressed in a sweatshirt and shorts. "How did everyone sleep?" she asked as she took a seat at the table. Edmund bent to look at something in the fridge.

"I am more sore than I expected," Caspian answered, and Edmund hit his head on the top of the fridge below the freezer.

"From when he fell down the ravine last night," Susan said quickly as Edmund turned. "Get your mind out of the gutter, Ed." He began to respond, but she cut him off. "Not in front of Lucy!"

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: For those of you who are wondering, no, nothing happened between Caspian and Susan during the night. **


	5. Chapter 5 (Saturday: The Lesson)

Chapter 5 (Saturday: The Lesson)

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: You may have noticed I tweaked the summary, because I realized I had included all of the main characters but Edmund. And we can't have that. Not when nearly every chapter of _Into the Woods _ends with him or someone yelling at him.**

* * *

As Lucy, Eustace and Peter were washing dishes from breakfast – Edmund, Susan and Caspian were scheduled to clean up from lunch, and the adults after dinner – their cousin spoke.

"Peter," Eustace began, trying to appear nonchalant but sounding almost unsure at the same time. "Do you remember the offer you made yesterday during the walk to the lake?"

"Remind me."

Eustace cleared his throat. "The… lesson."

"Right. Do you still want me to show you the basics?"

"That would be, ah, great, yes."

"If the gravel road dries out from the last night, I'll take you. Otherwise it wouldn't be safe. You want to use your parents' car, I assume?"

"Of course," Eustace replied in a tone bordering on annoyance. "What else would I use?"

Lucy watched as Peter turned to their cousin, serious. "Eustace, I'd like you to remember that I'm going to be teaching you, not the other way around. In the army, officers don't take lip from subordinates." Peter wiped the soap off his hands with a dishtowel. "Finish up here, will you? Come on, Lu."

The siblings left the kitchen, their cousin left sputtering in their wake.

* * *

"I can't believe Peter's actually doing this," Edmund said from the porch with his sisters and Caspian; the adult were watching from inside the cabin. "After all the things Eustace has done–"

"I actually think this might be Eustace's way of apologizing," Susan interrupted.

"_Seriously_?" Edmund laughed. "By asking someone to do something for him? That's twisted logic."

"He is asking for help," Caspian pointed out.

"That's just it," Susan said. "Normally he acts superior and thinks he's better than everyone else, but now he's opening himself up. Perhaps for driving advice, but it's something."

"They're starting!" Lucy said.

They watched through the car windows as Eustace, panicked, inched the car forward, Peter giving instructions with a serious expression. When a tire dipped in a pot hole, Eustace slammed on the breaks. As Peter spoke, the sixteen-year-old stepped on the gas and the car clutched forward, only to slam on the breaks again.

"I think Peter hit his head on the visor," Edmund commented.

The twenty-three-year-old reached up a hand to rub his forehead as Eustace spoke rabidly, panicking all over again.

"I do think Eustace is apologizing," Susan said in wonder.

"For probably the first time in his life," Edmund added.

As Peter put the visor up out of reach, he waved a hand forward for Eustace to continue. The car stared moving again, very slowly, but began picking up speed. As they passed both the Pevensies' and Caspian's cars, Eustace gave the other vehicles a wide berth, even though it was clear Peter was trying to convince him he wouldn't hit them. The car slowed to a stop, and the now-familiar look of panic came over Eustace's features as Peter said something. They debated for a moment, and Eustace shifted gears, turning his neck as he backed up the car.

The vehicle began to veer to the right towards the cabin, and then quickly turned in that direction as Eustace turned the steering wheel the wrong way. He desperately tried to correct his mistake, but it was too late. The car ended up in a ditch on the side of the gravel road.

"Stop laughing, Ed," Susan scolded. "You hit a street light when you learned to drive."

Edmund sobered.

Peter waited in the car as Eustace got out to assess the damage. After discovering only one wheel was in the ditch, a sight the onlookers could see plainly, the sixteen-year-old opened the driver's door but didn't get back in.

"It's in a ditch."

"Get it out" was Peter's reply.

"Won't that put strain on the engine?"

"You've only got one wheel in the ditch. It's fine.

With a sigh, Eustace got back into the car. He started the engine, stepping on the gas; though the tires spun, nothing happened. With a screech, the car suddenly shot forward, and Eustace slammed on the breaks.

After the car stopped moving, Peter said something, unbuckling his seatbelt, and Eustace bolted out the car, leaving his door wide open. "You have to turn off the engine!" Peter called, but his pupil ignored him as he all but ran up the porch steps into the cabin, ignoring his audience.

After Peter shut off the car, closed the driver's odor and locked the vehicle, he came up the porch steps, keys in hand.

"How was he?" Edmund asked with a smirk.

Peter hesitated for a split second. "He'll practice."

Edmund nearly howled in laughter.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: I know this chapter was very short, but the next (and final) one will be longer. We're almost done. Thank you to everyone who reviewed and who has stayed with **_**Into the Woods**_**!**


	6. Chapter 6 (Sunday: The Lake)

Chapter 6 (Sunday: The Lake)

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here it is the last chapter of **_**Into the Woods**_**. **

* * *

Eustace had initially refused to hike to the lake again, but it was that or stay with the adults and play cards until they all left the cabin that evening. Even he had limits.

The time, he stayed close to the group, especially Peter. Lucy guessed that her cousin decided his form instructor was the most level-headed and least likely to get lost. Caspian and Susan walked together behind them, while Lucy and Edmund made up the rear.

"You have to try to be nice to Eustace," Lucy said quietly, but her brother only snorted. "Ed…"

"I am."

"Not _really_. Just try," Lucy asked.

"Fine," Edmund said with a dramatic sigh.

They reached the lake in good time to find it deserted once more. True to form, Edmund went straight for the water, Eustace telling Peter some fact about fresh water lakes while Caspian and Susan admired the view seated on the log near the trailhead. Lucy procured an apple from the bag of food they had brought along and decided to explore a little ways down the shore. As she walked, she hard rustling in the trees nearby. Stopping, she peered into the bushes and gasped as a small black bear cub tumbled out.

"Why, hello there!" she exclaimed with a smile, receiving only a few sniffs from the cub in reply. Lucy looked up as she heard Peter shout.

"Don't get any closer to it!"

She saw her brother, backed by her other siblings, Caspian and Eustace, all watching her in varying levels of terror.

"Just move very slowly over here," Peter said. She started to obey, but the cub began to follow her. Thinking it was hungry, she tossed her apple to it. A large and fast shape hurtled through the trees as Peter yelled, "Run!" Lucy couldn't help but scream as a full-grown bear lunged out the tree line at her.

She sprinted to catch up with the rest, but the pebble beach and hiking boots made running difficult. Lucy stepped on a loose stone and cried out as she fell, Peter running faster than she had ever seen him sprint before back to her. She tried to scramble to her feet, cutting the palms of her hands on the stones, but the bear was rearing over her–

–and it took a step back, shaking its head as a stone hit on the nose.

"Oi! Leave her alone!"

As Lucy dove away from the bear, Peter pulling her, she saw Eustace standing a little apart from the others, another stone in hand.

"Don't–!" nearly everyone else yelled as he threw the second rock. It glanced off the bear's neck, but it wasn't fazed as it began to charge Eustace.

"You _idiot_!" Edmund shouted, dragging his cousin along as they all bolted away from the fast-approaching bear. "It probably would have left us alone if you hadn't made it mad!"

"I was trying to help!"

"Shut up and keep running!"

They reached the log at the trailhead, and Peter slowed. "What are you _doing_?" Edmund yelled.

"Ed, take the girls and Eustace back to the cabin. Caspian and I will head it off."

"We can't just leave you here!" Susan cried as Caspian picked up two long, thick pieces of driftwood off the beach and handed one to Peter.

"Go!"

Lucy ran back on the trail with Edmund, Susan, and Eustace as the bear charged. She stumbled as a short figure barreled past them towards the beach. She recognized him as a little person, but he carried what looked like a gun, and that was enough for her.

"Get down!" he ordered as he reached the tree line. Peter obeyed and dragged Caspian down with him as the man aimed his gun at the bear and fired.

It staggered back, growling and starting to stumble. It then fell, slumped on its side, and stopped moving.

"Did you kill it?"

"_Shut up_," Edmund snapped at Eustace as Peter and Caspian got up, eyeing the motionless bear warily.

"Tranquilizer," the red-haired man said, approaching the creature without fear and nudging it with his gun.

"Thank you for coming when you did," Caspian said.

"Just doing my job," the warden, as Lucy guessed him to be, said.

"What's your name, sir?" Peter asked.

"Trumpkin. I'm one of the park rangers around here. I came to look at a landslide report and heard the commotion."

"We are in your debt, sir," Caspian said.

"Don't mention it."

"We really–" Peter began, but Trumpkin interrupted.

"So what happened?"

"I saw a bear cub," Lucy said, coming to the trailhead ahead of the rest of her siblings and Eustace.

"You weren't trying to pet it, were you, miss?"

"No, she was minding her own business," Eustace threw in. "As if anyone would be stupid enough to pet a wild animal."

Lucy gave her cousin a grateful smile before continuing. "I was going to leave it alone, but it started following me. Then the mother came out of the woods."

Susan took over. "When she tripped, we thought it would kill her, but Eustace threw rocks at it."

"And it charged him instead," Edmund finished.

"Who threw the rocks?" Trumpkin asked, and Eustace stepped forward, clearly expecting praise.

"That was one of the stupidest things I have ever heard in all my years in this job. However," he added, "it probably saved her life. I'm going to call in back up to find the cub and relocate it and the mother. I'm just glad nobody got hurt."

"Thank you again, sir," Susan and as their group joined together.

Trumpkin only gave a curt nod in response.

* * *

Aunt Alberta clearly had had enough of camping. After nearly smothering her son with both worry for his safety and praise for his actions, she announced that the Scrubbs were leaving the cabin. They took a while to pack, however, and Susan told her family she was going home with Caspian, who had offered to take her to her car parked at the Pevensies' house.

After goodbyes had been exchanged, Susan had gone back into the cabin to retrieve something while Caspian waited for her in his car. As Lucy observed with her brothers, she saw Eustace go to the driver's window to Caspian, but they were only able to see their cousin standing outside the vehicle.

"Caspian?"

"Yes?"

Eustace shifted, uncomfortable. "I, um, wanted to apologize for my… behavior when you found me in the woods."

"I appreciate that," Lucy heard Caspian say.

"I was an idiot," her cousin went on, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Your reaction was understandable. We had never met you, you had been lost for two hours, it was the middle of a storm…"

"I guess so," Eustace said awkwardly. "I need to finish packing. So, have a safe trip, then."

"To you as well," Caspian replied as Susan came out of the cabin. Eustace left the car as she got into the passenger seat, telling her boyfriend that she wanted to stop for coffee on the way back. After she shut her door, Caspian started the car and pulled out onto the gravel road.

"They aren't engaged yet, right?" Eustace asked the rest of his cousins as they watched Caspian and Susan drive away.

"Correct," Peter answered.

"Anyone can see it will happen sooner or later," Eustace commented as he went back into the cabin.

The remaining Pevensies stared at each other. "Eustace, the matchmaker?" Lucy said in surprise.

"I didn't see that coming," Peter admitted.

"Perhaps he's not as much of a little shit after all," Edmund commented.

"Ed!"

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Did anyone catch the reference to **_**The Rain in Spain**_** near the very end? **

**Well, that is the end of **_**Into the Woods**_**. I hope you enjoyed it. The sequel is called **_**Blessing**_** (published before this). If you haven't read **_**The Rain in Spain**_**, I'd love it if you would check it out. **

**By the way, for those who have read the other installments in my modern AU universe, there will be a conclusion to this series coming up, set after **_**Blessing**_** and ending **_**The Rain in Spain**_** universe. If you liked **_**Into the Woods**_** and the other fics in the series, please keep an eye out for **_**Everlasting**_**.**

**Thanks for reading!**


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